Tag Archives: tricky customer

I’ve been asked why is my blog called Tricky Customer. Well, as the advert says, it does exactly what it says on the tin. When he was in NICU, Samuel was often reffered to as a tricky customer, because that was what he was. The doctors were quite literally scratching their heads trying to figure what to do and how to control his seizures while working through the drug book. He was anything but a straightforward patient and his seizures and condition was nothing that they had seen before.

Also while I’m here I thought I’d mention that I previously did a blog post called Seizure vs Fit where I explained how and when we use these two words. But when Sam was in NICU the nurses and doctors very rarely used these words and instead it was always ‘episode’. ‘Samuel had another episode this morning’. I found it quite strange but it seemed to be the language that was used. Interestingly I noticed that when a couple of the premature babies in neighbouring cots had breathing problems and needed urgent help, these instances would be refered to as ‘episodes’ too.

Recent ramblings

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

NICU – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Sam spent 8 weeks there)
MIDAZOLAM – Samuel’s emergency medicine
JULIA’S HOUSE – Hospice which provides respite and play therapy (and lots of cuddles for Sam)
KETOGENIC DIET – Special diet which can help epilepsy
GASTROSTOMY – This is a button put into the stomach and all feeds and medicines can be given through it
CHLORAL HYDRATE – Medicine Samuel has at bedtime to help him sleep
SATURATION MONITOR (SATS MONITOR) – Used to monitor heart rate and oxygen in the blood
NASOGASTRIC TUBE (NG TUBE) – Tube that goes into the nose and down the throat and feeds and medicines can be given through it